


All You Had to Do Was Stay

by captainamergirl



Series: All the Way Home [1]
Category: Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, One Life to Live, The Young and the Restless
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Black Character(s), Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Gen, Soap Opera, black love, diversity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23623495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Diversity in daytime. {What a concept huh?!}AU mini-series.
Series: All the Way Home [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700488
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a mini-series. Someday I'll write a longer sequel. Thanks for reading!

**Hilary Curtis (The Young and the Restless) + Evangeline Williamson (One Life to Live)**   
  
_“Who are you?”  
  
“My name is Hilary Curtis … I’m your sister.”  
  
“Of all the … The hell you are!”  
  
“It’s true. Twenty-five years ago my mother Rose Turner and our father Clarence Williamson-“  
  
“Oh this is insanity! My father was an amazing man. He was most of all, a faithful man. He’d never cheat on my mother – never! I don’t know what it is you’re after, but you won’t find it here.”  
  
“I want to find my roots, simple as that. You don’t have to like this but it’s true. Clarence Williamson was my father, every bit as much as he was yours.”  
  
“Bull. My father – MY father, mind you- just died four weeks ago. Have you no shame? But I guess that’s what this is about, right? You read his obituary in the newspaper, saw that he had some money and a fancy degree, and decided to try to exploit our grief. It’s almost really funny – almost. But you’re not getting a shiny silver dime out of this family!”  
  
“Sista, I don’t want your money.”  
  
“Uh-huh. Then what do you want?”  
  
“Wow. I heard around town that Layla was the bitchy, unreasonable one, but it seems you’ve got the market already cornered on that.”  
  
“You –“  
  
“Say what you need to say, I have heard it all.”  
  
“You’re a con artist! Do you know that extortion is a crime? I could have you arrested right now.”  
  
“I said –“  
  
“I know what you said but I don’t believe it. Not at all. I don’t believe you for a second. I don’t accept this. You won’t get away with slandering my father’s good name. You won’t.”  
  
“Our father’s name, Evangeline. And he did have an affair with my mother and I am the product of that affair. He denied my existence for my whole life but he kept my mother and I financially holding our heads above water. Every month we got a cashier check with lots of zeroes. It was hush money but at least it was something. I don’t need money.”  
  
“You’re lying!”  
  
“You want to believe that, but it’s just not the case. But since you doubt me so much, why don’t I prove it to you? I’ll take a DNA test today- right in front of your very eyes.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Excuse me?”  
  
“I said no. If I agreed to let you take a test, it would mean that I was entertaining the insane idea that my father betrayed his vows to my mother; betrayed Layla and me too, and I don’t believe it. So no, no DNA test, no nothing. Just get out of my office. Now.”  
  
“You’ll regret this.”  
  
“Get out!”_   
  
XoXoXo   
  
The words she and that Hilary person had exchanged had haunted Evangeline for weeks now. The very idea that her beloved father would hurt his real family that way…   
  
One morning Evangeline got into her car and just drove. Drove and drove, somehow finding herself in Alpine, right at her mother’s door.   
  
“Evangeline,” her mother greeted her. “What a surprise… Isn’t it a work day?”   
  
Evangeline nodded. “Yes, yes, it is, Mom; I really should be at the office. A big trial is coming up-“ She started to turn and step off the porch but her mom was grabbing for her hand.   
  
“Evangeline, come inside, young lady. You’re not getting away so easily.” She forcefully pulled Evangeline into the house. Evangeline looked around at the home she had grown up in. Suddenly all of her happy childhood memories seemed tainted somehow, not quite genuine. The thought made her sick, but what made her sicker was that she was starting to wonder if Hilary had told the truth. She had no reason to believe Hilary wasn’t a con, but everything had come into question all of a sudden, everything failed to make sense now. Was everything she had believed in all just a lie?   
  
Lisa Williamson backed Evangeline up to the sofa and pushed her down onto it. “I am getting you some coffee – decaf because you seem quite jumpy – and then you are going to tell me what brought you here.”   
  
“Mom-“ But Lisa had already left the room.   
  
Evangeline sighed and looked around. She spotted the family Bible sitting high up on the book shelf, pristine as always with its filmy white cover. She vividly remembered sitting on her father’s lap as a child while he quoted scripture and she traced the names of all their many family members scrawled on the front page. She knew all the names in it by heart. She had never once seen the name Hilary there.   
  
“This is crazy, I’m crazy to let this – this person mess with my head like this,” she muttered. “She’s just a lying con, that’s all.”   
  
Lisa walked into the room carrying two steaming coffee mugs. She handed one to Evangeline and took a sip from her own cup as she sunk down onto the sofa beside her eldest daughter. “Talk to me, Evangeline Williamson. You know I don’t like to be kept in the dark.”   
  
“Hmmm,” Evangeline mused. Had her father kept her mother in the dark all these years about his secret lovechild?   
  
“Mom, it’s nothing. I just needed a drive to clear my head.”   
  
“Sure… This is about your father, isn’t it?”   
  
“Wait – how did you –“   
  
“He left us less than two months ago, Evangeline. I figure that he’s got to be on your mind about as much as he is on mine.”   
  
“Yes, he is.”   
  
Lisa peered at Evangeline over the rim of her coffee cup. “You know … don’t you?”   
  
“Excuse me?” Evangeline asked.   
  
“The look in your eyes … It’s the same look I must have had when I found out about her.”   
  
Evangeline’s heart thudded to a stop for a long moment. “Who?”   
  
“Hilary.”   
  
“Mom-“   
  
Lisa shrugged. “I figured she’d come around someday. I am surprised it didn’t happen sooner but then maybe she was like us and didn’t see Clarence’s heart attack coming. We all thought he had a lot more time, even though I told him repeatedly to lay off the bacon.”   
  
“Hilary? Hilary Curtis?”   
  
“Yes. She came to see you, didn’t she?”   
  
Evangeline nodded solemnly. “Did she seek out Layla too?” Lisa asked. “No, I guess not. Layla would have been beating down my door long before now.”   
  
“I don’t think Layla knows. Why this Hilary sought me out of all people… Mom, do you think Dad might have had an affair?”   
  
“Oh, honey, I don’t think he had an affair. I know he did.”   
  
“What?”   
  
“A man can only hide something like that from his inquisitive wife for so long. Besides, I found a letter from Hilary’s mother, Rose, one time. The truth came tumbling out.”   
  
“How long ago did you find out?”   
  
“Twenty years or so.”   
  
“Mom! Twenty years, and you never said a word to Layla or me?”   
  
“You and Layla were just babies. As if I would trouble you with something like that.”   
  
“I had no idea…”   
  
“That’s the way I wanted it. I know Clarence wanted to claim Hilary but out of respect for me and my wishes, he didn’t. I am a proud woman, Evangeline, you know that I am. I didn’t want to admit what my husband had done, that he’d strayed. I didn’t want to be the subject of idle gossip so I made him cover it all up. I let him send cashier’s checks every month to Rose for the expenses of Hilary’s upbringing but that was it. He died, as far as I know, never having said one word to his own youngest child.”   
  
A tear rolled down Evangeline’s cheek and she angrily dashed it away. “Dad betrayed you. He betrayed us.”   
  
“He did,” Lisa admitted. “But maybe, he betrayed Hilary most of all, and I made him do it.”   
  
“Mom, you’re not to blame.”   
  
“I want to believe that, Evangeline, but I denied him his own flesh and blood out of selfish pride and anger.”   
  
“I probably would have done the same thing.”   
  
“And just what are you going to do now?”   
  
“N-nothing, Mom, nothing. I am just going to pretend that she never walked into my office.”   
  
“Hilary isn’t a problem that will go away. We just can’t pretend she doesn’t exist – at least not anymore.”   
  
“Well, I don’t want anything to do with her.”   
  
“Evangeline, she’s yours and Layla’s blood.”   
  
“So what? We don’t even know her.”   
  
“God willing there’s time left to find out what makes her tick.”   
  
“Maybe I don’t want to know.”   
  
“I stuck my head in the sand for years, sweetheart, but it didn’t make what I was hiding from cease to exist.”   
  
“I wish I had never learned this.”   
  
“Me either,” Lisa said. “But now that she’s here-“   
  
“You forgive Daddy?”   
  
“I loved your father.”   
  
“Aren’t you furious with him?”   
  
“Oh I’m  _livid!_ He’s gone. He’s gone and I miss that old curmudgeon. I would yell myself hoarse at him this moment if I could. But first, I think I would hug him one last time and say I loved him. I never told him that, at least not enough.”   
  
“None of this is your fault.”   
  
“I have a lot of regrets, sweetheart. I just don’t want you to have the same ones.”   
  
“I don’t know what to do.”   
  
“I think you will figure it out. You’re an intelligent, confidant woman who could rule the world over if you wanted to.”   
  
“Oh I definitely don’t feel that way now.”   
  
“It’ll come back,” Lisa said and gave her daughter a tight hug.   
  
XoXoXo   
  
Evangeline stuck around for hours that day, just talking to her mom. When dusk came though, she knew it was time to head back to her life, like it or not.   
  
She alternately cried and pounded the steering wheel the whole drive home. When she finally walked into her penthouse, she ripped off her high heels and realized that she was all cried out. That’s when she picked up the phone and made an important call.   
_  
“Abe, it’s Evangeline. I need you to help me find someone… A woman named Hilary Curtis…”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Layla Williamson (One Life to Live) + Felix Dubois (General Hospital)**   
  
Layla burst into the apartment she shared with her best friend Felix one evening, arms stuffed full of shopping bags with labels of high-end stores etched across them. Felix had just emerged from the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.   
  
“Hey, roomie,” Layla said with no enthusiasm as she tossed the bags down onto the sofa and went to grab some water from the refrigerator. It was a sweltering day in L.A. and too much sweating always put her in a bad mood. Not that she needed any help to be in one…   
  
Felix’s eyes were wide as he moved to riffle through the bags. “You bitch,” he said to her. “You went shopping without me!”   
  
Layla rolled her eyes. “You were at work.”   
  
“I know,” Felix said, rolling his eyes back at her. “While you were dashing along Rodeo Drive throwing your dear departed daddy’s money around left and right, I was pulling a twelve hour shift. I had bedpan duty,” he said, pulling a face.   
  
“Well I’m sorry,” Layla said, not entirely sincerely, “but I needed some retail therapy.”   
  
“Missing your Papa again?” Felix asked as he picked up a pair of sparkly pink Louboutin heels. “Oh my god! These would look so good on me. If only we wore the same size…”   
  
“You’re welcome to have anything in those bags,” Layla said. “I don’t know why I wasted my time or money.”   
  
Felix looked up, adjusting the towel around his waist. “What’s eatin’ ya, kitten?”   
  
Layla shook her head. “God, shut up, now you sound like my father. The cheating bastard. May he be rotting in hell,” she muttered.   
  
“Come again?”   
  
“I found out this morning from Van that some con artist is claiming to be our half-sister.”   
  
“You’re kidding.”   
  
“No. My mom apparently confirmed that she’s the real deal but I don’t believe it for a second. At least I don’t want to.”   
  
“Good god, this is scandalous. Like an episode of Fraternity Row.”   
  
“You and your damn soaps,” Layla said. “Hello, this is  _real_ life.”   
  
“And you’re upset.”   
  
“Of course I am.”   
  
“Come on, Kitten, give me a hug,” Felix said, moving towards her. She tried to back away but Felix grabbed for her and pulled her to him, patting her back. “There, there.”   
  
“My god, you’re not my father. You’re my  _grandmother,”_ Layla said. “And you’re getting me all wet.”   
  
“That’s surprisingly not the first time a woman has said that to me.”   
  
Layla wrenched free and slapped his arm. “Shut up. I mean it.” She took a sip of Perrier. "This isn’t cutting it,” she said.   
  
“Of course it’s not,” Felix replied. “There’s only one remedy for the blues.”   
  
“To get wasted?”   
  
“To go scout some fine men,” he said with a twinkle in his eyes. “And get wasted!”   
  
“What are we waiting for?” Layla said with the tiniest smile.   
  
XoXoXo   
  
Forty-five minutes later they were sitting side by side at a hip bar uptown, drinking martinis.   
  
“How about that one?” Layla asked as a too-gorgeous-to-be-real white boy passed by them.   
  
Felix popped an olive in his mouth. “My gaydar isn’t tingling. I say, straight unfortunately, because the things I could do to that man…”   
  
Layla smirked as she reached for a second martini sitting on the bar and tipped it to her plump lips. “Oh I bet you could, but would he slap an assault charge on you afterwards?”   
  
“Hush woman,” Felix said. He looked at her now. “How you feeling, Poptart?”   
  
“Fine,  _Twinkie,”_ Layla smirked. “Never better.”   
  
“That’s the booze talking but if you’re feeling good now, why jinx it?”   
  
“Exactly. The less I think about Daddy and Sister Dearest, the better.” Layla’s mouth suddenly dropped open as the most gorgeous man she had ever seen sauntered into the club. He had thick, dark curls, beautiful muscles that tapered to a lean waist, and the most bronze, glistening skin she’d ever seen outside a tanning salon. “Dear god…”   
  
“What? What?” Felix asked.   
  
Layla pointed at the gorgeous man as he weaved through the crowd. “He’s alone. And I am definitely getting a ‘straight’ vibe off of him!”   
  
Felix’s eyes bugged out as he saw the guy Layla was hot for. “Oh dear lord, I think I just came a little. He’s beautiful.”   
  
“You’re disgusting and yes, yes he is.”   
  
“He’s so beautiful; he’s just got to be gayer than a ‘special’ episode of Glee.”   
  
“I don’t know, Felix…”   
  
“He’s gay, trust me. I can feel the gayness rolling off him in waves.”   
  
“I don’t think so. And I’m going to find out for sure,” Layla said. She hopped off the bar stool and straightened her teeny-tiny black skirt. “Here goes nothing.”   
  
“Oh wait, honey,” Felix said, hopping off his own bar stool. “I want him.”   
  
“I saw him first.”   
  
“Doesn’t matter if he’s a queer.”   
  
“He’s not, trust me here.”   
  
“I would love to but I want that man too, every bit as much as you do.”   
  
Layla sighed. “He’s straight.”   
  
“Oh no he’s not.”   
  
“Want to bet?”   
  
Felix nodded. “What are we betting?”   
  
“Five hundred.”   
  
_“Dollars?_ I don’t have five hundred dollars. I’m a nurse for god’s sake. We make piddly change.”   
  
“But if you’re so sure he’s gay then you don’t have to worry about losing your hot pants.”   
  
“Oh him and me will be losing our pants together before the night is over,” Felix said confidently. “Now come on, Princess Layla, let’s go chat him up.”   
  
XoXoXo   
  
“Fuck!” Felix said as they walked back to the bar five minutes later. “He is straight. Or in complete denial.”   
  
“Told you!”   
  
“So what does it matter? He’s taken anyway by some girl named Jessica. What kind of name is Jessica?”   
  
“I don’t know, what kind of a name is Felix?”   
  
“Shut it, girl.”   
  
They slinked into their seats. Felix looked at her. “You don’t really expect me to pay you half a grand do you?”   
  
“Yes!” Layla said. “Nah, I guess not. I’ll settle for you buying me another martini.”   
  
“Can do!” Felix said and waved over the bartender who was sadly for both of them, female. “Another round of martinis for us girls,” he laughed.   
  
Layla laughed too, and then she sobered a bit. “Thanks.”   
  
“For what, dahling?”   
  
“For making me forget my problems for a bit tonight.”   
  
“Anytime,” Felix said an air-kissed her. “Now should we go back to babe hunting?”   
  
“Of course.”   
  
_“Ohmigod!_ Is that Brad Pitt?” Felix said. “I totally want his autograph.”   
  
“You totally want more than that.”   
  
“Yes! Damn that Angelina,” Felix said and they laughed still more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Neil Winters (The Young and the Restless) + Epiphany Johnson (General Hospital)**   
  
Epiphany saw Neil’s shoulders slump as Dr. Drake gave him the news that he would never see again. “I am sorry, Mr. Winters, we’ve done everything we can,” Patrick said. Neil said nothing. Patrick looked at Epiphany with a solemn expression, then back at his patient. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”   
  
“No, we’ve exhausted every option haven’t we?”   
  
“Yes, I’m sad to say.”   
  
Neil just nodded. When Patrick was gone, he started gathering up his things – his jacket and his cane. Epiphany couldn’t resist reaching out to touch his arm and give it a brief squeeze. “You’ll get through this.”   
  
“Oh yeah? How do you figure?” Neil asked. “I hate – I hate this! Relying on everyone just to get through the day. My daughter is outside, you know, just waiting for the news. She drives me everywhere now. She’ll have to keep doing that for the rest of my life. She is sporting a handicap sticker on the bumper of her Lexus now. A handicap sticker, can you believe that?”   
  
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”   
  
Neil scoffed. “Is that what you tell all your patients?”   
  
“Just the ones who are lucky enough to be able to leave the hospital at all – who aren’t stuck in a bed, surrounded by nurses and doctors who are strangers. Well-meaning ones, but strangers just the same. Some people would even say that you’re fortunate.”   
  
“Hah!”   
  
“You may be blind but you still have your legs, you still have use of your arms and aren’t sick with a debilitating illness. You have your other senses, you have a daughter who cares enough to drive you to all your appointments. Trust me when I say I know a lot of people here who would trade places with you in a New York minute.”   
  
“Is this ‘tough love’ routine the way you approach everything?”   
  
“Most everything,” Epiphany said. “I know life sucks, Mr. Winters. I know it can hurt, that it can beat you down at times… But you can never give up.”   
  
“I feel useless.”   
  
“Your attitude is useless.”   
  
“Blunt. I’ll give you that much.”   
  
“I never beat around the bush… I’m telling you now. Count your blessings, Mr. Winters.”   
  
“I have had a hard last few years…”   
  
“We all have, Mr. Winters, but you have to be thankful for what you’ve got. You’ve got your daughter alive and well, as well as two sons if I’m not mistaken, and some grandchildren.”   
  
“Where’d you all hear that?”   
  
“Your daughter. When people talk, I actually listen.”   
  
“And offer unsolicited advice?”   
  
It was Epiphany’s turn to scoff. “I am trying to be helpful.”   
  
“Maybe you are, but I feel helpless, Nurse Johnson, don’t you get it? Ever since the freak accident happened, I have clung to this vain hope that it was all temporary, that I’d get my life back, but today your doctor friend dashed every last grain of hope I had left.”   
  
“Then you find something new to hope for, something new to appreciate, to live for.”   
  
“You’re not going to let me feel sorry for myself, are you?”   
  
“No, I’m not. My guess is that you have a hundred other people feeling sorry for you; you don’t need my pity too. You’re not alone, Neil, you’ve got your family who loves you; some people should be so lucky…” She sighed wistfully.   
  
Neil paused in the doorway, tapping his cane against the hard linoleum. “You lost someone.”   
  
“Excuse me?”   
  
“The way you said I should be so lucky… I heard an inflection in your voice when you said it… It’s a gift and a curse... You lost someone dear to you, didn’t you?”   
  
“See you’re honing your other senses,” Epiphany said facetiously. She sighed softly. “But yes, I lost someone. My son Stanley. He kept the wrong sort of company and it cost us all dearly but what I wouldn’t give to have him back, looking out for me the way only he could. Even when I didn’t need him to do take care of me, it was awfully nice. Value what you have, Mr. Winters, right now, in this moment.”   
  
Neil nodded. “You’re right, of course you’re right,” he said. “I’m sorry for your loss. And no, that’s not pity talking either. It’s empathy. I lost my wife but I can’t imagine losing a child. When my Lily had cancer, there were moments… well, I thought I’d have to say ‘goodbye’ and it was the most horrible thing I ever could have imagined… How are you still standing?”   
  
“I take it one day at a time, just the way you should.”   
  
“Here I am complaining about my sight and you’re carrying this around.”   
  
“I’m doing just fine,” Epiphany said. “Yes, there are moments when the thought of Stanley in the cold ground steals my breath away, but I push ahead because that’s what I need to do. And that’s what you need to do too, Mr. Winters.”   
  
“Neil… Can you call me Neil?”   
  
“Yes… Neil.”   
  
“And you are –“   
  
“Epiphany.”   
  
“Epiphany … A revelation. Why yes you are.”   
  
“You can’t see it but I just rolled my eyes at you.”   
  
“No, don’t roll your eyes. You  _are_ a revelation, Epiphany. You helped me ‘see’ things I’ve been missing out on all this time…. Thank you.”   
  
“You’re welcome, Neil. You’re welcome."


	4. Chapter 4

** Brandon Walker (Days of Our Lives) + Maya Ward (General Hospital) **   
  
Just two days ago, he had proposed to her. In return, she had asked for time to carefully consider her answer. He hadn't seen her since. He believed that she loved him; no, he  _knew_ that she did, but the one who had come before him had scarred her beautiful heart so badly that she was afraid to trust in anyone now. He wanted to be the man in her life, the one person who would never let her down; she just had to agree to let him try.   
  
_God, what if she turned him down?_   
  
He had loved her from the moment they met. He came into her ER with a mild concussion, resulting from a minor car accident, and she had been so gentle with him, so reassuring, that he had asked her out right away.   
  
_"Would you like to go out with me sometime?"  
  
Her eyes went wide and she smiled, seemingly in spite of herself. "You must have hit your head harder than I thought if you actually want to date me."  
  
"Don't sell yourself short, Doctor. You're beautiful and from what I can tell, smart and caring too."  
  
"Do you really believe those lines you're trying to sell me?"  
  
"They're not lines, I swear."  
  
Her eyes took on a faraway look then, as if she was remembering another time and another person, another man, who had made her promises, and then broke them all.  
  
"Give me a chance," Brandon said. "Come on."  
  
"I can't. You're my patient…"  
  
"I'll find a new doctor then, but I can't find another you. Believe me, I've looked."  
  
"You're delirious from the pain."  
  
"No, but I will be hurting though if you turn me down."  
  
"You're crazy then…"  
  
"Crazy about you…"  
  
She laughed almost in spite of herself. "Really? We just met."  
  
"I know and I usually don't come on this strong, I really don't, but I absolutely like everything about you and maybe you could learn to like me too if you give me a chance."  
  
"Mr. Walker…"  
  
"Brandon. Call me Brandon."  
  
"Mr. Walker," she said pointedly and he grimaced. "I appreciate the attention but trust me; you don't want to date me."  
  
"Oh you are so wrong," Brandon said. "And I'm going to prove it to you too. I am going to keep coming back here every day until you agree to go out with me. I mean, one date with me wouldn't be so terrible, would it? Some people think I'm charming."  
  
"I'm not some people."  
  
"No you're not. You're special and I am going to prove that to you."_   
  
And he thought that he had proven to her that she was worth fighting for, that she was worth loving. He had come around the hospital every day just like he said he would, sent her flowers, wooed her really. She had been distant for awhile, standoffish even, but eventually his stubborn determination had worn her resolve down and she'd agreed to go out with him. One date turned into another and still another. And things were amazing until he had gone and popped the question.   
  
They'd been a couple for almost a year. Getting married had seemed like a natural progression in their relationship but had he gone and scared her off for good?   
  
Has he chased away his forever love?   
  
Xoxoxo   
  
Just when he thought that she must truly be done with him, she turned up on his doorstep one night, soaked to the skin from the pouring rain.   
  
"Maya?" He said in awe.   
  
"Do you still want to marry me?" She asked, trembling either from the chill or something else altogether.   
  
"With every breath in me."   
  
Maya nodded. "It scares the crap out of me that I could want someone so much after what happened with the last guy but … I do. God, I do. Just please, please be gentle with me like you've been all along. I like to appear tough but there are moments, I feel anything but."   
  
"I swear I will never hurt you," Brandon promised. "Please believe me."   
  
"What if I hurt you? What if I don't know how to be what you need?"   
  
"You already are what I need, what I want. I need to know you need and want me too."   
  
"With every breath in me," she echoed his earlier words. She snaked her hand into the pocket of her wet jacket and withdrew the little blue velvet ring box he had insisted she hold onto. "Put it on me?" She asked.   
  
"You'll marry me?"   
  
She nodded. "Yes."   
  
His hand was steady as he reached out and took the box from her. He opened it and took out the ring. It was a cheap thing, with only one tiny diamond on it, but he'd scrimped and saved for it, called in favors for it, because she deserved something special.   
  
She held out hand and he slowly slipped the silver band onto her tiny finger. She admired it. "It's beautiful."   
  
"You're beautiful."   
  
"Why do I want to believe you when you say things like that?"   
  
"Because I'm charming?" He teased. He reached out and took her face gently into his hands. "I love you so much, Maya Ward. I promise to protect you, to love you, to treat you like the queen you are to me… I will always love you."   
  
"I will always love you too, Brandon," she said. Her eyes took on a smoky look and he couldn't resist kissing her then. They stood in the rain; kissing and embracing for what could have been hours or mere seconds, reveling in finding that one person in the world who loved them more than any other ever had.   
  
He finally scooped her up and carried her inside. He laid her gingerly down on the bed and made love to her all night long. In the morning, he was almost afraid that she would be gone, regretting agreeing to be his bride, but no, she was still there, cuddled to his bare chest, looking at peace, for once.   
  
His heart ached with love. She was his. She really was his.


	5. Chapter 5

** Lexie Carver (Days of Our Lives) + Keesha Ward (General Hospital) **   
  
They hadn’t seen each other in over six years but sitting at this table, sharing drinks and trading war stories, it was like no time had passed at all. They could still talk about anything and everything.   
  
Lexie was gratified to see the smile on Keesha’s face. Last time they had seen each other, Keesha had been barely holding on – trapped in a horrible marriage, living with a man who could turn from charming and loving to manipulative and monstrous in the snap of one’s fingers. Tears had gushed down both of their faces in time with the rain as Lexie begged her best friend to break free of her toxic marriage while Keesha had kept saying over and over that she couldn’t. That she was stuck. Didn’t Lexie get it? There was no way out.   
  
_“You’re not stuck. There is a way out. Don’t be afraid, okay? Know you deserve better than this.”  
  
“Lexie, I can’t get out. Besides, it’s not that bad. I mean, he’s not always that way.”  
  
“What if he kills you or god forbid, hurts one of the children?”  
  
“He won’t. He never would do that. He gets angry but he’s not murderous.”  
  
“You can’t be sure. Come on. Just come with Abe and me back to Salem. We’ll protect you and the kids. Abe is an officer of the law, he knows –“  
  
“No.”  
  
“No?”  
  
“No. Lexie, I am staying with Damon and that’s the end of the story.”  
  
Lexie shook her head. “I don’t get it. I will never get it. But – but that said, I just can’t stick around and watch the ax fall on your neck.”  
  
“What are you saying?” Keesha crossed her painfully thin arms over her chest. “You’re what – abandoning me? I thought we were friends; best friends for that matter.”  
  
“We are. That’s why I have to do this, why I have to walk away. I can’t watch him destroy you and you know that’s just what he’ll do.”  
  
“Lexie-“  
  
Lexie dashed at a tear and shook her head. “Call me if you ever realize you deserve more than you’re getting – so much more.”_   
  
Then she had gone, never actually expecting to see Keesha again. But here Keesha was – sitting before her, light dancing in her dark brown eyes, hair falling in soft, pretty curls down her round shoulders. She wasn’t skeletal anymore - certainly not fat, but she didn’t appear to be starving herself anymore. She looked damned good actually.   
  
“Can you believe it, Lexie – your stepson and my cousin getting married?”   
  
Lexie smiled. “I know. It really is a small word.”   
  
“Brandon’s a good guy, right?”   
  
“The best,” Lexie said. “He’s going to treat Maya like a queen.”   
  
“Good, because after what happened with the one who came before Brandon… Well, let’s just say that she needs this. She needs a good man who will treat her like the treasure that she is.”   
  
“Speaking of men, who’s putting that smile on your face these days?”   
  
Keesha blushed. “You noticed.”   
  
“Yes! It’s hard not to. So who is he? Certainly not Da-”   
  
Keesha held up a hand to stop Lexie. “No, not the one who shall not be named. I finally got free of him, Lexie. You were right all along. He turned on me one night; actually he nearly killed me in front of the kids.”   
  
“Oh, Keesha…”   
  
“Well, he’s going to be in prison for a long time. I’m safe now. I’m not looking over my shoulder every two seconds anymore either. It’s so… freeing.”   
  
“And this new guy? I assume he’s the anti- well the opposite of the one who shall not be named.”   
  
“Yes! I mean, he’s kind of a bad boy, I’ll admit, but he would never, ever hurt me like that.”   
  
“Bad boy huh?” Lexie smirked. “How did you two meet?”   
  
“We met years and years ago, when we were teenagers actually. He was my – well, my first everything.”   
  
“Wait, you don’t mean – ohmigod! Seriously?”   
  
“Uh huh.” Keesha swirled her straw in her glass and smiled dreamily. “I thought it would never happen for us again but things… They have a way of working out huh?”   
  
“Yes. I’m so happy for you.”   
  
“Thanks… And how are you? How’s your adorable little boy?”   
  
“Theo’s doing wonderfully. About four years ago, he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. I was so scared, so worried that he would be ostracized, but he has friends and he seems very happy.”   
  
“That’s all a mom could want for her babies.”   
  
“Exactly… Think you and your special man will have kids together?”   
  
“I hope so.” Keesha’s eyes twinkled. “How about you and Abe?”   
  
“Oh no,” Lexie said with a laugh. “We’re very much past our child-bearing years.”   
  
“Don’t say that.”   
  
“It’s true and I’m okay with it; I really am. One is our magic number. Plus we’ve got Brandon and I figure he will give us grandchildren with Maya someday soon.”   
  
Keesha giggled. “You, a grandma?”   
  
“What – you can’t see me knitting sweaters and wearing polyester pants?”   
  
“Uh-uh, Lexie, I really can’t. You’re way too young for that anyway. Brandon is almost your age, right?”   
  
“Yes. I’ll admit that we have a complicated … history … but I really do love him like, well if not a son, then a brother.”   
  
“A brother, yes, cause you’re way too young to be the mother of a forty-year-old!”   
  
The women laughed uproarisly at that. When Lexie got the hiccups, Keesha insisted on ordering her some salt water to drink. She swore it had been Mary-Mae’s hiccup cure. Surprisingly, it actually worked.   
  
“Thank you,” Lexie said.   
  
“For curing your hiccups?”   
  
“No, for not appearing to hate me for walking away that day in the rain.”   
  
Keesha’s eyes became dewy. She reached out and took Lexie’s hands in hers, squeezing them tightly. “I could never hate you. I don’t blame you one bit for what you did. You did the exact right thing. And I believe I’m alive because of you.”   
  
“Because of me?”   
  
“Yeah. That night… I could have lie down and let him beat me to death, but I kept hearing your words – the way you would always say I was strong and not to be afraid and that I deserved better. And I realized it was true so I fought back and here I am today, so… Thank you.”   
  
“Ohh, Keesha.”   
  
“You’re my sister, Lexie, maybe not biologically, but in every way that counts.”   
  
“Likewise,” Lexie said. A tear rolled down her face and she dashed at it quickly. “Now let’s stop this teary-eyed stuff and order another round of drinks. Then you can tell me about your amazing new life with your wonderful man.”   
  
“Are you sure you want to hear all the ‘boring’ details?”   
  
“Absolutely,” Lexie said. “Without a doubt.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last part. Lemme know if I should do a sequel!

** Malcolm Winters (The Young and the Restless) + Justus Ward (General Hospital) **   
  
Justus was standing in front of the church when Malcolm pulled up in his crappy, rusted over jalopy.   
  
“You knew I was coming,” Malcolm said as he walked up the steps and Justus moved to block his path.   
  
“Yeah,” Justus said with a nod of his head, “I probably know you better than you know yourself.”   
  
“Then you know I’m going in there and nothing and nobody will stop me,” Malcolm said.   
  
“You’re too late, Malcolm, way too late,” Justus said.   
  
“Don’t try and sell me that line of b.s. I know the wedding hasn’t started yet.”   
  
“You’re still too late, buddy,” Justus said. “She’s moved on. She’s happy now. Can’t you let her be?”   
  
“Justus, I love her. I love Maya. And as much as I appreciate this protective uncle routine you’ve got going on –“   
  
“It’s time for you to realize some hard truths here, my friend,” Justus said, catching Malcolm by the lapels of his jacket and forcing him back.   
  
“You better step off, Ward. You know I can still pummel your ass; been doing it since we were fresh out of Pampers.”   
  
“That may be,” Justus said, “but think about what you’re doing here, Malcolm. Don’t run in there and bust up the place just because you think you can. Maya is happy now. She loves Brandon; she told me just last night at the rehearsal dinner that she’s never been happier. You have no right-”   
  
“No, Justus, you have no right to stand in the way of us. To make up Maya’s mind for her. Let her tell me herself that she doesn’t need me, that she doesn’t love me.”   
  
“You’re being a selfish ass!” Justus snapped. “You walked away from my niece time and time again, put everyone else before her, cheated on her…”   
  
“I never cheated and you know it.”   
  
“An emotional affair hurts a lot worse, trust me,” Justus said. “And that’s what you were engaging in with your ex-wife, knowing damn well the whole time that Maya was crying for you to confide in her, to need you, the way you always did Olivia.”   
  
“Justus-“   
  
“Malcolm, I am prepared to knock you out, friend or not.”   
  
Malcolm smirked a little. “Come on, Justus, we both know you don’t like to get your hands all dirty. You’re a lover, not a fighter. Besides, you don’t stand a chance here.”   
  
“And you don’t either – at least not with her. She’s moved on; she had to pick up the pieces you left her in so many damn times, and I can’t let you break her again. I always loved you like a brother so I was willing to overlook the horrible way you treated my niece but not anymore. Not when there’s finally a light in her eyes again that you stole away for so long.”   
  
“She has a right to know how I feel.”   
  
“You had every opportunity to tell her, Malcolm. You had years to be the man she needed and you couldn’t be bothered.”   
  
“I was going through shit and you know that.”   
  
“So was she! You could have been there for each other but each time you chose to walk away, Malcolm. You go in there now; you’re just going to be breaking her apart all over again. For once, think about her needs, not yours. She needs to move on, she needs to be happy.”   
  
“Justus-“   
  
“Come on, Malcolm. You are my brother; you know I wouldn’t lie to you here. She’s happy. If you love her like you say you do, let her stay happy.”   
  
Malcolm went to push past Justus but to his surprise, Justus grabbed him by the collar and hauled him back, knocking him to the ground. Malcolm righted himself and charged at Justus. Justus took a swift hit to the gut and went sailing to his knees on the pavement. Malcolm went to hit him again to clear his path, but Justus called out, “Look what you’re doing. Dammit, see the mess you’re making here.”   
  
Malcolm ignored him and started towards the church. Justus scrambled after him and grabbed him by his jacket again. A scuffle ensued and Justus received a swift hook to the right eye. Justus’s eye immediately swelled up, almost shut, and that’s when Malcolm realized it. Saw the truth in black and white; comprehended the monster he had become. The selfish fucking monster who was willing to beat on his best friend to get his own way.   
  
He stopped in his tracks, hands staying on the double doors. He looked back at Justus who was kneeling on the ground, holding his face. “Tell me something,” he said.   
  
Justus shook his head and struggled to his feet. “What, Malcolm, what do you want to hear? Can I actually say anything that will penetrate that thick skull of yours?”   
  
Malcolm sighed and dropped his hands to his sides. “Tell me this new guy is good to her, that he really loves her right.”   
  
Justus nodded. “He is good to her; he treats her like a princess. He loves her too, as much as she loves him, maybe even more.”   
  
“Is he the right guy for her?”   
  
“Yeah.”   
  
“This fucking sucks,” Malcolm said, as he looked longingly through the glass doors.   
  
“You still going to try and bust up the ceremony?”   
  
Malcolm sighed. “No. I was, but you’re right… I ain’t good for her.”   
  
“She did love you.”   
  
“I know, better than anyone ever has,” Malcolm said sadly. “Let her have her special day uninterrupted; let her have a good life, the life I can’t give her.”   
  
“What caused this lightning-fast turnaround?”   
  
“Doesn’t matter,” Malcolm said. “I gotta go before she sees me… How you gunna explain that busted eye though?”   
  
“I’ll say I walked into a door,” Justus said. “I hate lying to Maya but someone’s got to cover for your ass.”   
  
“Someone always has to,” Malcolm said. He moved to Justus, patted him on the shoulder. “Sorry, brother.”   
  
“Apology accepted… See you around sometime?”   
  
“Maybe,” Malcolm said and then he turned and hurried across the street to his jalopy. Justus watched him climb in and start up the engine. It took a good minute to turn over and then he finally drove off. Every instinct told him to go back there and fight for his woman but for once in his life, he would do the right thing and let Maya go. He’d let her have the life she deserved with a man who apparently wouldn’t betray her or walk out on her.   
  
As he slowly wound his way down the street, he looked back once in the cracked rearview mirror. He thought he saw Maya standing there in her pretty white dress watching him leave her life again, but when he blinked his eyes, she wasn’t there anymore. It was over. They were done.   
  
_The knowledge cut like a bitch._


End file.
